Pakistan Taliban chief killed: what next for the organisation and the country?

Following the death of the Pakistan Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud in a
drone strike, The Telegraph's Rob Crilly explains what is next for
the organisation and the country

2:34PM GMT 02 Nov 2013

The head of the Pakistan Taliban, one of the country’s most fearsome terrorist leaders, was killed by a US drone strike on Friday, according to militant sources and security officials.

Hakimullah Mehsud, who carried a $5 million (£3.1 million) bounty on his head, was killed with other senior commanders when at least two missiles hit his vehicle in North Waziristan, an area in Pakistan’s north-west known as a haven for al-Qaeda and militant groups.

There are unconfirmed reports that the Pakistan Taliban voted to promote their number two commander, Khan Said, also known as Sajna, to replace their leader.

Said is believed to have masterminded an attack on a jail in northwest Pakistan that freed nearly 400 prisoners in 2012 and an attack on a Pakistani air force base in the same year.

The Telegraph's Rob Crilly in Islamabad says that "there was a meeting of the advisory council of the Pakistan Taliban to decide a new leader and the early front-runner has been Khan Said.

"However, it sounds like the meeting broke up before they could reach a final decision, in part because they had to move around so frequently because of the threat of drone attacks, so we may not know who the new leader is for some time."

But if it is confirmed that Khan Said is the new leader, then Rob Crilly says that there "may be a better chance for accomodation with the Government," as he is more of a "pragmatist".

The people of Pakistan are very concerned about a "wave of revenge attacks" for the death of Mehsud, Rob Crilly says.

"The Pakistan Taliban will obviously be angered by the killing of their supreme leader and there will be commanders desperate to wreak revenge on civilian targets."